Digital trade leaps on dynamism

China's digital trade sector made great strides last year, and the country has become one of the most dynamic economies in digital trade around the world, which has injected new momentum into domestic economic growth and contributed significantly to the global trade development.

China's imports and exports of digitally delivered services trade rose 6.5 percent year-on-year to 2.9 trillion yuan ($406.6 billion) in 2024, according to the China Digital Trade Development Report 2025 released by the Ministry of Commerce during the Fourth Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Friday.

Imports and exports of the country's cross-border e-commerce sector reached 2.71 trillion yuan last year, up 14 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high, the report said.

It noted that China's exports of telecommunications, computer and information services are at the forefront globally, while the growth rate of China's digital services trade far exceeds the global average, making it the fastest-growing economy in digital services trade worldwide.

Kong Dejun, head of the department of trade in services of the Ministry of Commerce, said at present, digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain are accelerating in innovation and increasingly integrated into all aspects of economic and social development.

"Digital trade is thriving, demonstrating strong development resilience and having a profound impact on patterns, structures, and rules of global trade. It has become the most dynamic component for bolstering global trade growth," Kong said.

He noted that China possesses abundant data resources, a vast domestic market, and diverse digital application scenarios, all of which provide a solid foundation for the development of digital trade.

Looking ahead, China will vigorously promote the reform, innovation and development of digital trade, advance institutional opening-up and deepen international cooperation in the digital trade domain, he added.

China has attached great importance to the development of digital trade, which is regarded as one of the three pillars supporting the development of a strong trading nation, alongside trade in goods and services.

The total value of global digital trade rose from $4.59 trillion in 2020 to $7.23 trillion in 2024, with the average annual growth rate reaching 12.1 percent, according to the Global Digital Trade Development Report 2025. This growth significantly outpaced that of total global trade, which grew at an average annual rate of 9.7 percent over the same period.

The report was jointly released by the International Trade Centre and the organizing committee of the Global Digital Trade Expo. The faster expansion of digital trade underscores its increasing importance in the global economy and reflects an ongoing structural shift toward digitalization in international commerce, it said.

Digitally delivered services, and digitally ordered goods and services have jointly driven growth in digital trade, the report said, adding that the former accounted for the larger share, rising from $3.21 trillion in 2020 to $4.64 trillion in 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 9.6 percent.

Digitally ordered trade expanded more rapidly — from $1.41 trillion to $2.62 trillion — at an average annual growth rate of 16.7 percent between 2020 and 2024. The European Union, China and the United States ranked as the top three in terms of digitally ordered trade exports.

The report also highlighted that AI has emerged as a transformative force in digital trade, reshaping infrastructure, services and applications. Advances in large model architectures, including the DeepSeek open-source ecosystem, lowered barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises and spurred innovation across healthcare, education, finance and cross-border data markets.

Zhou Wenyu, assistant professor of the International Business School at Zhejiang University, said AI has given rise to a wide range of emerging service formats and cross-border transaction scenarios. Meanwhile, cross-border e-commerce has greatly promoted the deep integration and efficient coordination of global industrial and supply chains.

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn